Rodrigo was born in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. He started training in Judo when he was 5 years old, and has a brown belt in Judo.
At 12 years old he started training in Jiu-Jitsu, invited by his friend Maneco, who is a black belt from Carlson Gracie. After
training with Maneco, he trained with Carlson Gracie, and has been with Carlson for over 13 years now.
Rodrigo has his own Academy in Rio in Leblon Beach. It has been operational for 5 years, and has produced many champions
like Carlson Gracie's Academy. It is an affiliate of Carlson Gracie's Academy in Rio.Rodrigo has also taught at Carlson Gracie's Academy in Los Angeles. He has since opened his second academy in La Habra at 819 East La Habra Blvd. (East of Los Angeles). His hope is to create several American champions.
Rodrigo was Brazilian champion three times, from 1991-1993. In 1993 he was considered the best technical athlete of all the tournaments, including the Brazilian championship and the Rio De Janeiro championship. He won the California State Championship in 1997 held in Orange County, Ca. beating a Brazilian black belt champion from Sao Paolo and the US open tournament held in Santa Cruz, CA. in 1997 defeating a much heavier (outweighed him by at least 40 pounds) opponent from Japan. Both opponents were defeated by several points and ultimately by submissions in a matter of minutes. Rodrigo has competed in over 40 different Jiu-Jitsu tournaments, losing only five. In March 1998 he participated in a submission-tournament held in Abu Dhabi (Middle East) submitting a wrestler in less than 30 seconds and continued to compete against Renzo Gracie. After 3 five minute rounds with no points or submission the decision was given to Renzo Gracie.
He is also a member of Carlson's elite freestyle team. With teammates like Alan Goes, Murilo Bustamante, Mario (Zen Machine) Sperry, Carlos(Carlao) Barreto, Wallid Ismail, Ricardo Liborio, Roberto (Bebeo) Duarte, Rey Diogo and Todd Medina.
He is sponsored by Company, a large clothing store from Brazil that sponsored the World Jiu-Jitsu Tournament (Mundial) in January of 1996.
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Last modified: May 31,1998